


Adeus

by toojuns



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmates, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27152059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toojuns/pseuds/toojuns
Summary: Jaemin was the only ghost in the human world who hasn't been claimed. He had seen numerous souls leave the realm with their angels or demons, and yet, it was never his turn.Until Huang Renjun came around.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin
Comments: 15
Kudos: 63
Collections: Challenge #2 — tricks; treats; and terrors





	Adeus

There are many types of secrets in the world. 

Some are like the wind. Light and breathy, words and actions so meaningless it dissolves into the night - morning comes with the promise of new beginnings, and the secret shared is lost between the shadows. 

Others are youthful. Immature confidences are made to connect people. Children tell them to create bonding, make friends in the early stages of life. The idea of confidential information being enough to keep them giddy, happy to know what the others don't. 

And some come with an expiration date, secrets so powerful they can't be contained. Even locked away, they trample over all other thoughts, eating away all signs of sanity until there's nothing but the shell of a person and the weight of it. 

Na Jaemin has a secret. He's dead. 

He's been dead for a while now, and his body has probably decayed and been consumed by the earth; if he was lucky, he was nothing but bones now, possibly locked away in some old cemetery, forgotten with time.

He didn't have much to do as a spirit other than travel around, keeping his composure until the final day came, until someone would finally claim his soul and take him away. Jaemin didn't know what the other places were like, but nothing could be worse than waiting around for decades, watching other ghosts pass him by while he was still here. Waiting. Lonely.

Jaemin had lost his patience twenty years ago when he decided he didn't care how, or where, he would get to spend the rest of his eternity. All he wanted was to get out of the mundane world. But still, no one came. 

He waited around cemeteries, no one.

Crashed hospitals, no one.

Looked for murder locations, no one.

Every single spectrally charged place he could find, Jaemin went, got his hopes up, only to be shut down when he couldn't see any being other than the ghosts.

And when he couldn't think of any other places, he would just go around his favorite spot in town: an untouched meadow hidden away from the concrete jungle. The only place he could be alone with his thoughts, ghosts never got to be alone - no one respected their privacies like people did with the living. 

He was always surrounded but lonely.

Until he heard a crack, and Jaemin could feel the air shift. Before he could even understand what was going on, he felt the dread take over his body.

Something was there with him, and it didn't feel right. 

"Oh, no one prepared me for this," the dark shadow murmured, voice silky and perplexed. 

Someone.

The figure loomed over Jaemin, firstly just a block of dark fog, shifting to transform itself into a million faces coming from all sides, disturbing figures and silent screams. Jaemin had never seen anything like it; this was worse than any war flashback, the air was filled with fear, and he couldn't understand if the trembling came from his body or if the world was collapsing. 

With a rush of wind, the voice settled down into a human figure. 

A boy.

There were once other people with him, other souls that came just as confused into the afterlife, bound to the material world and familiar feelings; people who refused to give up their time with the living. Jaemin saw it all; he saw a father who couldn't leave his only daughter to be alone, every night standing on guard at her door, making sure he was the scariest thing she would have ever seen. He saw a man haunting his brother, family killing each other over money. He saw a little kid watch over their parents, not leaving their side even after the divorce. He crossed paths with so many souls but had never seen any of the angels and demons the others would discuss.

But the fog, the distorted faces creeping out, the shrieks from animals around, Jaemin recognized his company wasn't an ordinary person; it must've been one of the demons other people were so keen to talk about. 

And yet, looking at the boy's face, he didn't strike him as a demon. With high cheekbones and petulant eyes, the man standing in front of him looked too youthful to be crowned an ally of the dark. Other than the black clothing and wary hisses from the forest, his human form didn't strike as fearful; it was just… _Pretty_. 

Jaemin stood up as the shock on his face died down along with his pride. He thought the man was tall; however, it was nothing but an illusion as Jaemin hadn't even realized his legs had given up, and he was sitting on the smooth grass. The man must've thought his reaction was funny because, with a light chuckle, he ordered Jaemin to follow him.

Jaemin did; he wasn't crazy enough to defy a demon.

"So, where are you from?" The figure asked, kicking away tiny rocks from the trail. He was smaller than Jaemin, and he almost looked like a spoiled child with the way he was talking informally and swinging his arms. 

Jaemin didn't remember where he was from anymore; all his memories were fuzzy and what he could recall were just flashes of a war he wasn't sure he fought. 

The silence gave the man the answer, so he tried asking something else, "how long have you been dead?"

 _For too long_ , Jaemin thought. 

Everyone always got claimed, except Jaemin. He knew all the signs for it too; first, the soul would feel his body get lighter – the transition from material to ethereal happening -, then the voices would appear – weird tales inside their head, telling them where to go. At last, as soon as the soul reached its destination, an angel or demon would present to them, taking them away for eternity. Or so he figured, no one came back to tell him about that part. 

Jaemin saw it happened over and over. Although he never saw any demon or angel - those creatures only appearing for the person they claimed -, he figured demons would look horrible; the screams from the souls who saw them were ingrained inside his head and ears forever; Jaemin knew if he could still sleep, he would have nightmares about it.

And that was why the person walking in front of him made no sense; he posed as a demon and looked like an angel. This was his first time seeing any of those two, and he was confused as to which side had finally claimed him.

"Open your mouth," The man turned around, hands around his waist and eyes impatient. When Jaemin took too long to follow his command, he talked again, only now his voice was cold, rough like nails against the blackboard, and a shiver went down Jaemin's spine, " _Open_ _your mouth._ "

Jaemin obliged.

"Your tongue is still there," He went back to walking, gracious as if he wasn't about to make a man cry, "if you want to keep it that way, you should answer when I ask you something."

Jaemin didn't know if threats like that worked when he was already dead, but he wasn't interested in finding out, so he just told the truth, "I don't remember."

There had been some months since he had last spoken; the sound of his own voice was weird to him again. Jaemin was so used to the loneliness, getting out of it took him by surprise sometimes.

"I guess it makes sense," the man pondered, picking up a rock he found along the way and throwing it further into the maze of trees, "I don't sense your body near you."

Jaemin didn't recollect ever seeing his body; he didn't even get to see his reflection anymore. All he knew came from the other ghosts describing him.

"Where are we going?" Jaemin asked after a few steps; as soon as he realized his voice wouldn't crack from the fear. 

"I didn't come here just for you, buddy," the man answered - his pace was so quick Jaemin had to almost sprint to keep up; that had to be some sort of inhuman power, something only deities were allowed to know, "we have some other souls to collect."

Jaemin always thought the passage to the other side was made with only one soul at a time, a private walk with his last memories. He was wrong, and, apparently, he found himself with a demon on a mission; the man did not wait around for Jaemin to catch the breath he didn't need; he marched straight into the city, with all its disturbing lights and blurry cars.

They went around collecting other people, and, almost unconsciously, Jaemin served as a handyman to the demon. If the man needed someone to talk sweet and calm the souls down, Jaemin interfered. If he couldn't step into a sacred place, Jaemin dragged the ghost out. If there were any sort of inconvenience, Jaemin was on it. 

And it was _fun_ ; he liked being near the snarky man, with all his graphic threats and angelic face. He was a walking dissonance, and it intrigued Jaemin to the point he wasn't even worried about getting claimed by a demon. 

It was all new, and Jaemin _belonged_. He wasn't wandering anymore; he had places to go and mean jokes to laugh about. With anyone else, he would've reprimanded them, but his company was a demon, and maybe he had become desensitized to the living's affairs because everything that came out of the man's mouth was just funny. Spiteful remarks that only grew with the audience.

Jaemin didn't quite follow the turn of events, but he found himself under the wing of a demon, "when we get back, I'll keep you around; we can train you."

He didn't like the implication of training, but he liked the idea of _company_. Someone who would stick around. He didn't even know demons could be _trained_ ; Jaemin thought they were all born like that. 

But it all didn't matter. As soon as they got back to the meadow and the man clicked his tongue, a crack in space happened, and a slit appeared wight next to the trees, next to the frogs and birds, and Jaemin was mesmerized by the scene. 

Maybe going with the demon would be okay.

The crack emitted light, a dark shade of purple that did not match the surroundings coming through. The noises coming out of it were disturbing, and the man finally counted the number of souls he had gathered, one final check before they passed through. 

He counted once. Twice. 

Something was not right.

This time the man stopped again, inquiry on his voice and eyes as he looked to Jaemin, "why were you waiting by the portal?" 

Jaemin always hung out in that part of town; he had never seen any of this before.

"I didn't know there was a portal," he confessed; something about the man's eyes made him shiver inside, and he felt hot, fully aware that if he could blush as a phantom, he would've done so. He just didn't understand why.

"So, you just stay near charged places?" He was confused; no ghost would ever choose to be near somewhere hostile like this; bumping with a demon wasn't something people strived for.

But this man accepted to follow him without even asking once about it; he got up, dusted himself for no reason other than the force of habit, and went with a demon. Nothing, no one, had ever told the demon something like that could happen.

But Jaemin had never sensed any hostility coming from that forest; it always welcomed him with open arms, a moment of quietness inside an ever-growing city, demolishing houses to create skyscrapers, filled with glowing lights and thundering sounds. It had the same name as the city Jaemin was born, but that was one of the only things left from the time he was alive - the name and that _forest_.

"I guess," maybe somewhere inside his subconscious, he knew what he had to look for; maybe this was the place he was destined to be, "I like this part of town."

Or maybe he was just insane; that was what the demon figured. No levelheaded soul would talk so casually to him that way; perhaps he was one of the poor soldiers who went crazy as soon as the war ended; judging by his uniform, that wasn't a stretch. 

"What's your name?" 

"Na Jaemin," he answered, worried about the outcome of their talk. The demon looked for his list and skimmed over the names there.

He checked once again, even though now he was sure of who wasn't supposed to be there, "you're not on my list." 

This had never happened before, not once, not ever. Not since he had known himself as a demon. As soon as a ghost could see them, they were theirs to claim; Na Jaemin was his. And yet, he wasn't on the list.

Jaemin didn't belong there. 

He would be alone again.

The look on Jaemin's face was enough for the demon to figure he did not understand any of this either. 

"I'll come back for you," the demon promised, and that was the only time he heard the man talk softly; he didn't look like a messenger of the dark, just a boy making a promise to another boy. A commitment made for two: one would return, the other would wait. And that was what Jaemin did. 

"What's yours?" Jaemin asked before the man disappeared; the panic of being alone was greater than any dread he had felt before.

"Huang Renjun," the portal made sounds, screeches, impatient for the demon to jump in it, "if anyone gives you shit, just say my name. Your soul is mine anyway." And with that, he went through and closed the unearthly opening.

Quiet. The forest stood still. Jaemin was back to being lonely.

Three months passed until he could see Renjun again; he waited around the meadow, lurked alongside the nastiest souls he could find - all in the hopes of seeing the boy. When he finally saw him, Renjun gave him an apologetic look, "you're still not on my list."

Months later, Renjun existed again. This time, he had a bigger cloak around him and told Jaemin he had been promoted; he looked pretty and intangible, "I guess now I'll be able to find more about your case."

They didn't meet for another entire year after the promotion, and once they did, Renjun had another one stacking up. He was climbing the ladder, and every time Jaemin felt he was becoming more and more unreachable, time extending until they could meet again.

Jaemin waited anyway. There was now a building where its rooftop gave a clear view of the meadow Renjun appeared.

Years passed by, and seeing the demon was more of an empty promise Jaemin couldn't give up on. He knew it was futile; they were never meant to meet in the first place. Yet, that day with Renjun made him feel better than all the other years he spent dead. 

He didn't know why, but he did not want to go anywhere that it wasn't with a demon, that one in particular.

The rustling sounds didn't startle Jaemin anymore.

"Jaemin," the angel was punctual; he came every week around that time. Sometimes he would catch Jaemin waiting around the meadow; others, he would sit down beside the boy on the rooftop and watch as the light got sucked out of the forest, a warning for other souls and angels to not trespass, "we have to go."

No one ever did intrude, except Jaemin. And now Jeno, the assigned angel to bring him over to the other side.

"Can we wait a little longer?" Jaemin asked, begging like he always did with Jeno. 

They had played this exact game for years now. At first, Jaemin wanted answers, and he wouldn't settle for going with the angel while he did not know anything. Why was he the only person who could see both? Why was Renjun visible to him if he was not the demon's to claim? Since Jeno also didn't have the answers and was just as flustered with their situation, he went back to find them. 

The second time they met, Jeno still didn't know the reason, but he had Jaemin's name ingrained into a card; the golden ink was visible under the scorching sun, and it was all the angel needed to drag the soul back with him.

But Jeno wasn't like the demons, and when Jaemin asked to stay, he agreed to let the ghost roam around a little longer. Understanding there could still be material attachments for the soul, he was concerned with how Jaemin would cope with being taken away by force.

And they kept dancing around each other; Jaemin asked for time, and Jeno complied even if his superiors reprimanded him for it. They had an unusual situation in their hands, and Jeno was the one assigned to deal with it; he would tackle it with respect.

Years had passed between the first time the angel met the soul and today, and every time he tried to get Jaemin to go willingly. Jeno knew it was useless, more so when he found out why Jaemin could see Renjun, why the two seemed to bond unexpectedly. The angel would never tell him that; the truth was far too cruel for any human soul to bear. 

So Jaemin kept waiting for something that would never come, a chance to be near someone he shouldn't.

There are many types of secrets in the world; Jaemin's secret was Huang Renjun. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the mods for this wonderful experience!  
> And thank you for reading, I'll be back once the reveals are in :D  
>   
> EDIT:  
> I am now back!! This fest was a delight to participate in and now we can finally talk about it, hahaha.  
> A few things I just find neat: "Adeus" means goodbye in Portuguese but it can also mean "to god" if you separate some characters, so there's a little wordplay there.  
> This story came from an old saying I heard when little that went by like "even if you're a grain of sand on the beach, your soulmate will still recognize you" or something like that (I was very young, I'm sorry skladbkhsa), so yeah, make what you will with this piece of information. I kept the ending pretty much open and you can think whatever you'd like with it! I'm just the messenger here :D  
> Anyways, let's be moots on [twitter](https://twitter.com/toojuns)!  
> Have a great day, and thank you again for reading!


End file.
